Review REVEL IN FLESH “Flesh For The Kult Of Death”

Revel In Flesh have been keeping the German metal underground alive and kicking since 2012, when the band released its debut, Deathevokation. Several albums followed in fairly quick succession, before things went unusually quiet after 2019’s The Hour of the Avenger.

Seven years later, the Swabian death metal crew is finally back, armed with Flesh For the Kult of Death, their sixth studio album. The record features eleven tracks, including a well-executed cover of Crowbar’s “All I Had (I Gave),” which Revel In Flesh reshape with their own death metal character.

With Ralf Hauber, only one founding member remains in a band that has otherwise undergone a major lineup overhaul. Beyond those personnel changes, however, the musical mission remains firmly intact.

The quartet is devoted to old-school Swedish death metal, with the influence of bands such as Dismember and Entombed surfacing more than once. It may not be the most original formula on paper, but Revel In Flesh put enough muscle behind it to make the approach work. Heavy grooves, razor-edged riffs and Hauber’s deep growls define the record. Wherever you drop the needle, you’re met by buzzing low-tuned guitars and barking vocals. Tracks like “Bodybag Inferno” come roaring out of the speakers with enough grime to make you almost smell the damp earth beneath your feet. The massive “Tombstalker” seems to crawl out of that same murky ground.

Revel In Flesh also know when to vary the formula, adding some welcome shifts to the album. Alongside groove-heavy cuts such as the aptly sinister “Hellhole,” tracks like “Death Kult Maniacs” deliver a more direct form of death metal, hitting hard and moving straight ahead without unnecessary detours.

Seven years is a long time to wait for a new Revel In Flesh album, but Flesh For the Kult of Death makes a good case for patience. The record comes at you with weight and purpose, while the quartet maintains a sinister atmosphere from beginning to end. This is where nostalgia meets genuine passion, resulting in an album that knows exactly which part of the old-school death metal nerve to hit.